Darby Sieben - Internet Marketing

Ever wonder what are the most common names and Canada and how many people are listed in the White Pages in Canada who match those surnames. I figure there are at least a few of you who would be interested in this information, so here it is.

This list of top 20 common Canadian surnames was pulled from Wikipedia and in the order listed there.

Turns out that Wikipedia is pretty darn close in terms of the order of the top 20 surnames.

On a personal note, if you conduct a search for my last “Sieben in Canada” there are 412 of us listed in the Phonebook.

So the question is - how many people are listed with your last name? Enter your name below and hit “Find”, this will launch a new search browser and look in the right to see how many people match your surname.

Related Links:

Interested in seeing how popular your surname is in the United States? Check out the link provided to PBS.org.

I have decided to start a new feature called Local Search Tip. Every other Sunday, I will post another way to get access to quality Canadian content. Most of these posts will be focused on different ways to retrieve Canadian business and person data, however, I will also profile ways to get other local content.

Local Search Tip #1 - 411411 SMS Service
- conducting a search for Sushi by the CN Tower

Let’s assume that you just spent the day touring downtown Toronto checking out the local sites and attractions and now you are interested in having some Sake and Maki Rolls. What to do?

One option is to use 411411 SMS service. The screenshots below are from the iphone, but the great feature of SMS services is that they work on any cellular phone. So what do you do?

First, enter your messages, type in 411411 in the number and type in sushi, cn tower. The format of the 411411 service is simple - what,where.

what=any keyword
where=any city, province or landmark

Hit send as in this example (note: your cell phone may have different prompts, so think of the 411411 service as having a conversation with a friend). This is going to ping the 411411 SMS service. Because the system has recognized the landmark CN Tower, it will display results based on proximity. In a second, some two seconds, your phone will ring or vibrate and you will be presented with the following:

It will display the first 3 listings of 9. You can always continue to search for more (reply back with M). My experience with SMS is that the best experience is when you know what you are looking for. NOTE: you may need to scroll on your phone to see the results, this will vary based on your cell phone.

So, looking at the results you think to yourself, I remember a friend telling me about ZAZOU. If you want their phone number or specific address, simply hit reply, enter 2 and hit send. You will get back more details on this specific business.

As you can see you are only 0.4km from the CN Tower. Now that you have the address and phone number, you can easily walk over and enjoy your rolls or call them to make a reservation.

Try the service - it works across Canada and is bilingual in French and English. It is also updated daily as changes occur in business listings across Canada so you know it is always accurate.

Behind the Scenes
Where do the results for this service come from. The 411411 SMS service is powered by YellowPages.ca and uses the same what/where search parameters. Here is the link to Sushi, CN Tower on YellowPages.ca - notice the first 3 results …

Do you like to share your opinion? If so - launched today is the $100 a day free gas card giveaway from the YellowPages.ca Facebook Application - see full contest details.

Since the launch of this application, we have seen a growing numbers of users from across Canada share their opinions on restaurants, bars, dentists, health spas and this is a way to say thanks for those users to keep sharing their opinion with friends and family.

On a personal note, I appreciate that my blog has been very quiet in the last couple of months and for everybody who emailed me asking me what’s up - thanks for emails and your concern.

Besides being extremely busy in my position of Director of Online Services for Yellow Pages Group, I also made a move from Toronto to Calgary. Although the transition went extremely smooth, it is quite a ride to pick up your life and move over 3000 km’s.

Anyway, I will be regularly contributing again, with more of a focus on what is being launched by the YellowPages.ca Labs Development Team as we continue to produce some great work in helping Canadians buyers connect with sellers.